74. A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, with art by R. B. Kitaj
A Coney Island of the Mind, poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti with portraiture by R. B. Kitaj, 2005.
In 1958 a collection of poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti appeared under
the title A Coney Island of the Mind, published by New Directions. The book
immediately found a large audience, drawn to the poetry for its refreshing
liberality, unconventionality, and humor. It continues to be the most popular
book of poetry in the United States. The poems have been translated into
nine languages, and more than a million copies are in print. The title of
the book is taken from Henry Miller's Into the Night Life. As Ferlinghetti
has written: "It is used out of context but expresses the way I felt
about these poems when I wrote them - as if they were, taken together, a
kind of Coney Island of the mind, a kind of circus of the soul." Arion
Press presents in this special edition the first section of that book, the
sequence of twenty-nine poems called "A Coney Island of the Mind".
The artist R. B. Kitaj has made two drawings in charcoal on handmade paper,
one a portrait of the poet in profile that serves as the frontispiece, the
other a portrayal of the poet on a plummeting rollercoaster, his hair and
beard flying, observed by an all-seeing eye, that is printed on the cover.
These affectionate tributes by Kitaj join the Arion Press in honoring Lawrence
Ferlinghetti with a definitive setting of his most famous poems. More about the poet and the artist.
THE BOOK
A Coney Island of the Mind is the seventy-fourth publication of the
Arion Press. The book was designed and produced under the direction of Andrew
Hoyem. The format is folio, 16 by 10 inches, 48 pages. The types are handset
Goudy Light and Goudy Heavy. The text was printed by letterpress. The prints
were scanned from the original drawings and printed on an Epson 4000. The
paper is mouldmade Hahnemühle Bugra, its color
and texture similar to the handmade paper of Kitaj's drawings. The book
is handsewn over tapes and bound in boards with brown cloth spine and paper
sides, and is housed in a slipcase. The layout of the pages is generous
for the presentation of the poetry. The scale of the pages and care in hand
composition has allowed for refinements to the typography and placement
of lines in Ferlinghetti's "open field" style. With the cooperation
of the poet Arion Press has achieved a distinct improvement to the text
over the restrictive settings found in the trade editions.
In accord with
the title and the aesthetics of the poetry and the artworks, the design
of the book is purposely and playfully disorienting. The titling on the
sides of the slipcase curves like a rollercoaster. On the cover, the author's
name and the image by Kitaj are rotated so that the book must be turned
sideways to be seen as intended. Similarly, the title on the title page
runs up, and is on the left while the frontispiece is on the right, the
profile facing the title page, in contravention of the bibliographical convention
of title/recto, frontis/verso. The poems are not titled but are numbered
in bold figures, turned ninety degrees at the corners. When a poem continues
onto a second page there is no number. Thus, since these are not page numbers,
some numbers on versos are odd and some on rectos are even, again the opposite
of what might be expected bibliographically. The physical book pays homage
to the durability of the poetry and the poet, a grand old man of conscience
for this world.
THE EDITION & PRICE
The edition is limited to three hundred numbered copies for sale and twenty-six lettered copies for complimentary distribution. All copies are signed by the poet and the artist. The price is $650.00. Available
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Artist, Author, Title, or KeywordEdition: The book is folio in format, 16 x 10 inches, 48 pages. Binding: handsewn over tapes with brown cloth spine and paper sides, in slipcase. The edition is limited to 300 numbered copies for sale. Price: $650.
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